Automatic bobbin winder for sewing machine



Oct. 16, 1962 HlDEO HDA AUTOMATIC BOBBIN WINDER FOR SEWING MACHINE Filed March 6, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Oct. 16, 1962 HIDEO llDA 3,

AUTOMATIC BOBBIN WINDER FOR SEWING MACHINE Filed March 6, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent 3,058,437 AUTOMATIC BOBBIN WHIDER FOR SEWING MACHlNE Hideo Iida, Harnamatsu-shi, Japan, assignor to Prince Jidosha Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha, a joint-stock company of Japan Filed Mar. 6, 195?, Ser. No. 797,791 Ciaims priority, application Japan Mar. 19, 1958 4 Claims. (Cl. 112-220) The present invention relates to an improved automatic bobbin winder for a sewing machine.

The bobbin winder of a conventional sewing machine is usually unsightly in appearance.

An object of the present invention is to provide a cover having a simple and attractive appearance for the bobbin winder of a sewing machine. The cover is arranged to be easily opened by merely pushing a push button.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an automatic bobbin winder for a sewing machine, in which the clutching and unclutching of the balance wheel and the main shaft are automatically achieved by merely closing and opening a cover enclosing the bobbin winder mechanism and without the use of any conventional drive stopping means.

A further object of the preset invention is to provide an automatic bobbin winder for a sewing machine, in which the balance wheel is automatically clutched with the main shaft whenever the rotation of the balance wheel is reversed, thus affording a convenience in the case of uneven stitching, e.g. thread jamming.

Said objects, other objects and novel features of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description, when taken together with the accompanying drawings, in which the members are indicated by numerals and in which FIG. 1 is a sectional side view for showing the balance wheel and bushing of one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line II-II in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the bushing viewed from the arrow direction A in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a bottom view of the bushing viewed from the arrow direction B in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a plan view for showing the cover hinge portion of the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a partially sectioned side view for showing the closed state of the cover of the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along the line VIIVII in FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken along the line VIII VIII in FIG. 6;

FIG. 9 is a partially sectioned side View for showing the opened state of the cover of the embodiment of FIG 1;

FIG. 10 is a sectional view taken along the line XX in FIG. 6.

Referring to FIGS. 1-4, a main shaft 2 is rotatively supported by a machine arm 1. A bushing 3 is fixed to the shaft 2 by means of a set screw 4 and a pin 5 which are clearly shown in FIG. 2, said screw being screwed in the bushing 3 and said pin 5 being inserted through the shaft 2 and bushing 3. The bushing 3 is provided with longitudinal slots 33 and 34 in which are respectively mounted a friction roller 6 and a friction ball 13. The friction roller 6 is supported on a wedge shaped (-FIG. 2) supporting plate 7 and retained in a hole of a release lever 8 so as to be moved in accordance with the motion of the lever 8. The roller supporting plate 7 and release lever 8 are attached to the bushing 3 by a screw 9, the release lever 8 being adapted to being turned around said screw 9 by a change lever 10 as clearly shown 3,58,437 Patented Get. 16, 1962 in FIGS. 3, 5, 6 and 9. A spring 11 inserted in a slot of the bushing 3 urges the lever 8 to a position as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 in which the roller 6 is in contact with support plate 7 and the balance wheel 12. In this position, and in the case of such normal rotation of the balance Wheel 12 as shown by the arrow direction C of FIG. 2, the change lever 10 is not in contact with the release lever 8, so that the rotation of the balance wheel 12 is transmitted to the main shaft 2 through the roller 6. In this position, the roller 6 is brought in frictional contact with the balance wheel 12 and the support plate 7 by the pressure of the spring 11 on the release lever 8, through which the roller 6 extends and by the clockwise rotation (as viewed in FIG. 2) of the balance wheel 12 and shaft. When the change lever 10 is brought in contact with the release lever 8 to push said lever 8, the roller 6 is moved by the lever 8 to the left, FIGS. 2 and 3, and the friction contact between the balance wheel 12 and the roller 6 is lost as the roller is moved to a lower position on the wedge shaped support plate 7, and the rotation of the balance wheel 12 is not transmitted to the main shaft 2, thus permitting idle rotation of the balance wheel 12.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the ball 13 is held between a ball supporting wedge shaped (FIG. 2), plate 14 and 'a ball cover 15 through which a part of said ball 13 extends, said ball being urged to the right, as viewed in FIG. 2, by a spring 16.

The members 13, 14 and 15 are constructed and arranged as illustrated in FIG. 2. The ball 13 is in light contact with the balance wheel 12 in the case of such normal rotation of the balance wheel 12 as shown by the arrow direction C in FIG. 2, but the ball 13 is brought in forcible contact with the balance wheel 12 by the wedge shaped plate 14 in the reverse rotation of the balance wheel 12, thus engaging the main shaft 2 in reverse or counter clockwise rotation as viewed in FIG. 2.

Referring to FIGS. 5-10, the device is provided with a cover 17 which can be opened or closed around a hinge pin 18 having a hinge spring 24 wound therearound and with a push button 19 biased outwardly by a spring 20. In the state of FIG. 6 in which the cover is closed, the change lever 10 is separated from the release lever 8, so that the rotation of the balance wheel 12 is transmitted to the main shaft 2.

However, when the push button 19 is pushed, the ends of the forked spring 22 are opened by the rightward sliding of the slide pin 21 (FIGS. 6 and 10), thereby the ends of the forked spring 22 are released from the knob 23 attached to the cover 17, and the cover 117 is opened by the hinge spring 24. When the cover '17 is opened, the hinge cam 25 attached to the cover 17 and pivotally supported by the pin 18 is displaced from the position illustrated in FIG. 6 to the position shown in FIG. 9, whereby the change lever 10 is turned to the position of FIG. 9 and brought in contact with the release lever 8. The spring 26 biases the change lever 10 into contact with the hinge cam 25.

Closing operation of the cover 17 is as follows:

When the cover 17 is manually pushed down against the force of the hinge spring 24 (FIG. 9) the ends of the forked spring 22 are opened outward by the tapered end of the knob 23, and the ends of the spring 22 (FIG. 10) are engaged with the neck portion of the knob 23 upon the complete closing of the cover. During said closing operation, since the push button 19 is biased outwardly by the spring 20 (FIG. 6), the slide pin 21 (FIG. 10) attached to the button takes the position near the end portion of the forked spring 22. Accordingly, said pin 21 does not affect the closing operation of the forked spring 22.

The automatically stopping bobbin Winder mechanism composed of a stop latch 27, a stop latch adjusting plate 3 28, a bobbin winder spindle holder 29, a bobbin winder spindle 30, a bobbin winder pulley 31, and a bobbin winder friction ring 32 is of the same construction as the conventional device, but it is constructed to be more compact than the conventional device inorder to be enclosed in the cover 17. i i i i As described above, according to the present inven tion, since the clutching and unclutching of the main shaft with and from the balance wheel can be automatically achieved in accordance with the closing and opening of the cover, the conventional complicated operation of motion stopping means is not necessary for achieving said clutching and unclutching, and also since said clutching and unclutching are changed by the operation of the frictional roller or ball, the operations for said clutching and unclutching are gently and positively achieved. -Furt-hermore, when it is desirable to reverse the rotation of the balance wheel in the case of uneven stitching, reversing of the balance wheelcan be always assured, because the balance wheel is always in engagement with the main shaft by the action of a rolling friction member such as the friction ball or the roller.

While I have described particular embodiments of my invention, it will, of course, be understood that I do not wish my invention to be limited thereto, since many modifications may be made and I, therefore, contemplate by the appended claims to cover all such modifications as fall within the true idea and scope of my invention.

What I claim is:

1. In a sewing machine having a machine arm, a balance wheel mounted for rotation in forward andreverse directions on said machine arm, and a main shaft mounted for similar rotation in said machine arm, an improved automatic bobbin winder means mounted on said machine arm and having means engageable with said balance wheel for winding bobbins and comprising: bobbin winder cover means hinged to said'machine arm including means for releasing said cover means to open for winding a bobbin and for holding said cover means closed to provide a cover for said bobbin winder; clutch means mounted intermediate said main shaft and said balance wheel and operable to couple and uncouple said balance wheel with said main shaft for rotation in the forward direction and to couple said balance wheel and shaft for rotation in the reverse direction, and said clutch means including connecting means operably connecting said cover means to said clutch means, said clutch means being responsive to the opening of said cover means to uncouple the balance wheel for rotation in the forward direction from the main shaft for rotating said bobbin winder only, and being responsive to the closing of the cover means to couple said balance wheel to said main shaft for rotation of said main shaft in the forward direction, said main shaft remaining always coupled to said balance wheel for rotation in the reverse direction for cleaning thread jams and uneven stitching.

, 2. An improved automatic bobbin winder as described in claim 1 characterized in that said clutch means including said connecting means comprises a cam surface on said cover adjacent said hinge, a bushing affixed to the main shaft, said bushing having on its exterior surface, diametrically opposite circumferentially extending slots, said slots having bottoms sloping in opposite directions of rotation, each slot having a high and a low end relative to the bushing surface, the high and low ends of one slot being respectively opposite those of the other; a balance wheel rotatively mounted on said bushing; a rolling member mounted in each said slot, said members having a diameter greater than said high end and less than said low end of said slots, springs mounted in said slots biasing said rolling members toward the high ends of said slots, one rolling member adapted to engage said bushing and said balance wheel at the high 'end of said one slot as said balance wheel rotates in the forward direction and disengage from said balance wheel at the low end in reverse rotation, and other said rolling member adapted to similarly engage said parts when said balance wheel rotates in the reverse direction; and means for positioning said one rolling member in said slot against the bias of its associated spring whereby said main shaft is disengaged from said balance wheel for rotation in the forward direction to drive said bobbin winder only in said forward direction.

3; Clutch means as described in claim 2 in which one said rolling member is a cylindrical roller and the other said member is a spherical roller.

4. An improved automatic bobbin winder as described in claim 2 characterized in that said connecting means responsive to the operation of said cover comprises a release lever pivotally mounted at one end on said bushing and having a hole in the center portion in which said one rolling member is retained, said hole and pivot cooperating to move said one rolling member from the high end to the low end of said associated slot, a change lever pivotally mounted intermediate its ends, one said end engaging said release lever for moving said lever about its pivot, and the other said end engaging a cam surface on said cover, said cam surface adapted to rotate said change lever about its pivot as said cover is opened and closed, a spring biasing said change levers other end into con tact with said cam surface whereby when said cover is operated said levers cooperate to move said one rolling member to an end of its associated slot to disconnect and connect respectively said balance wheel from said main shaft. r

' References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1 609,973 Neeley Aug. 30, 1898 1,256,755 White Feb. 19, 1918 1,913,304 Brackett et al. June 6, 1933 r 2,430,932 iHohmann NOV. 18, 1947 2,784,917 Bono Mar. 12, 1957 

